
Qass. 
Book. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 

THE WORLD'S GREAT MARTYR. 

A DISCOURSE ?^ 

DELIVERED IN THE 



€. €\mdi, |maica, J. |., 



ON 



SABBATH MORNING, APRIL 231), 18(15, 



BY 



REV. OHi^RLES BA^CKMA^N. 



JAMAICA: 

CHARLES WELLINO, " LONG ISLAND FARMRR." 

1 R G 5 . 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 

THE WORLD'S GREAT MARTYR. 



A DISCOURSE 



DELIVERED IN THE 



€. C|ttrclj, lamatca, J. |., 



ON 



SABBATH MORNING. APRIL 23D, 1865, 




BY 

REV. CHi^RLES Bi^CKMA.^^. 




JAMAICA: 

CHARLES WELLING. " LONG ISLAND FARMER." 

1 e G 5 . 



SERMON 



Text :— " Hotel, fir-trse, for the cedar is fallen. 



-Zech., 11:2 



Ever? event in human life l)rings with it its correspond- 
ing lessons and obligations. God's providential government 
of the world, both as it concerns distinct personalities and 
nations, is replete with tremendous issues, yet frequently 
inscrutable to finite conception. It is not man's prerogative 
to descend into the profound abysses of infinite wisdom and 
comprehend infinite design. Sometimes God in his conde- 
scension doth permit us to understand somewhat the causes 
of his action, but in the main it seemeth rather to be his 
pleasure to hide the deep underlying principles of his gov- 
ernment from human ken, behind a veil of impenetrable 
mystery. Nor would it be exhibiting much wisdom on our 
part to undertake the task of unraveling these mysteries : 
for very many of the facts of His government, at least so far 
as a human understanding of them is concerned, are thus 
and so simply because they are so. 

If however man could see things as God sees them, how 
changed would be his views respecting the wisdom and be- 
nignity of Jehovah. 

Here then is most clearly seen the great want of faith in 
God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Where sight fliils to 
take us, faith will hold us with a steady hand, and cause us 
to rise above the distracting circumstances of life. Here is 
the Christian's hope ; here the Christian's foundation.— 
Upon this he stands ; upon this he triumphs. 

Some of the providences which visit humanity are ex- 
ceedingly afilictive in their nature ; and in many cases the 
first impulse is to murmur against God, if not for sending, at 
least for permitting them. Thirt is frequently the case with 
those who are not governed by religious principle ; and in- 
deed Christians are sometimes betrayed into this same error. 
Now a careful and intelligent study of God's providential 
government of the world is not only advantageous to the 
intellect but profitable to the heart. The mind is illumiua- 



ted and the soul made better. As a legitimate result we 
have enlarged views both of the wisdom and goodness of 
Almighty God. And let it be further remembered that each 
of these providences comes to us all teeming with practical 
instruction and freighted with the tremendous utterances of 
Eternal Grodhead. Let it be ours to learn the proper lessons 
and make them subservient to good ends. 

With these observations we set ourselves to the task of 
discussing the subject before us : 

Abraham Lincoln — The World's G-reat Martyr. 

We do not of course presume to be able to say those 
things that are altogether in keeping with the great event 
that has befallen America, and will move the whole civilized 
world with a tremendous shock, but still we are anxious to 
do honor to the gi'eat man who has fallen as no other Presi- 
dent has ever yet fallen. For one, therefore, I am altogether 
unwilling to let this occasion pass by without touching the 
sublime character of this great patriot and statesman with 
the perfume of this public benediction. 

The text we use mainly as a motto. Indeed its literal 
signification has reference doubtless to the loss of the great 
men of the age in which it was uttered. And we conceive it 
to be beautifully and forcibly suggestive of the dirge-like 
grief of the sons and daughters of this great Republic at the 
loss of their honored chieftain. 

Well may we say to-day from the central depths of our 
souls, '' Howl fir-tree, for the cedar is fallen^ Weep chil- 
dren, for your father is gone. 

For four long weary years we have been passing through 
fields of fire and rivers of blood. Our hearts have all beaten 
with tremendous anxiety. Ours was no small struggle 
Millions upon millions of treasure have been expended ; and 
thousands upon thousands of precious lives sacrificed upon 
the Altar of Liberty. The strife waxed hotter and hotter 
still. To-day we gain a victory ; to-morrow suffer a defeat. 
Thus the fortunes of war were constantly fluctuating. At 
length God smiled upon us from his lofty habitation. The 
clouds began to scatter, the mist of years were lifted, and the 
sun of Peace, so long obscured, was about to burst upon our 
enraptured vision with full-orbed splendor. We had long 
been looking for this day, and praying for its early dawn ; 



and now our i)rayers were answered, and the time of our full 
redemption drew nigh. Victory after victory was ours, 
stronghold after stronghold yielded, until Eichmond itself, 
the long defended Capitol of the Confederacy prostrated her- 
self at the feet of the conquering hero, Grant. Then fol- 
lowed in quick succession the surrender of Lee, the Gen- 
eral-in-Chief of all the Confederate forces, with his anuy of 
Northern Virginia. 

Quick flew the tidings, with more than archangelic speed, 
across the continent, thrilling every loyal heart with joy 
unutterable. The heart of the people beat more grandly and 
deeply than the great pulse of nature. The hour of our de- 
liverance had come. Dismay was sent through all rebeldom. 
Nearly all their strongholds had fallen, and their chief, with 
his main army, captured. The work of fighting was nearly 
done, and that of reconstruction had already commenced. 
We had been in the wilderness, and were just entering the 
promised land. Every heart was jubilant ; every flag thrown 
to the breeze. And no heart in the nation beat more grate- 
fully and proudly than did that of Abraham Lincoln. Not 
an anxious mother in the laud, not a soldier in the field, not 
a sailor in a ship, that was haj)pier at the prospect of a ces- 
sation of hostilities and the stoppage of bloodshed than was 
our worthy chief He deprecated war ; he shrank back from 
so much suffering ard bloodshed, for his heart was as ten- 
der as woman's. 

With all these bright prospects before us therefore we all 
rejoiced and were exceeding glad. The joy was intense ; the 
gladness universal. But lo ! in the midnight hour, at the 
national Capital, a cry was heard ; a bitter and heart-rend- 
ing cry, that sent paleness to every cheek, and coldness to 
every heart. In the morning of Saturday, xVpril 15th, 1865, 
when our daily papers came, they brought us the stunning 
and horrid intelligence that Abraham Lincoln had been shot 
by an assassin in the head, was mortally wounded, and was 
rapidly sinking ; and that the throat of William H. Seward 
had been cut from ear to car, and that his two sons, includ- 
ing the Assistant Secretary of State, had been terribly 
wounded by the hand of an assassin. 

My God, what a death-like shudder seized upon us ! 
The people stood aghast, and the faces of strong men were 
as pale as death. It came upon us all as a ponderous, 



6 

crushing thunder-bolt Jrom a cloudless sky. In the flush 
of victory, in the midst of great rejoicing, and without a 
moment's warning the crash came, and the loyal nation at 
once bowed down to earth with grief deep but inexpressi- 
ble. Of all the terrible hours of a life-time, this was the 
most terrible. 

But words are too impotent to express the grief, and then 
the indignation of the people. Aye, if we had at our com- 
mand the dialect of a higher sphere, we should still be inade- 
quate for the task. 

We guided our footsteps homeward, and with a heart 
burdened almost beyond endurance, entered our Icnely closet, 
bowed down before God in prayer, and then the great deep of 
our soul was broken up and we could but weep like a child. 
We felt that it must not be so, and therefore hoped that if 
the President was still living, the wound would not prove 
fatal. Bat we had no reason whatever thus to hope. Alas ! 
alas ! that hope was but the offspring of despair. At 10 
o'clock the sad telegram came announcing that, at twenty- 
two minutes past seven o'clock, Abraham Lincoln, the great 
and good President of the United States of Ameiica, gave up 
the ghost and passed away to another sphere. 0, what an 
hour ! Can it be true ? Is it fact, or is it fiction ? Are we 
dreaming, or are we awake ? We look again at the papers ; 
they have put on their mourning-dress. Alas, the details 
are too minutely drawn to admit longer of a doubt. And 
then the telegram came, removed every vestige of hope, the 
thing was done, and all was over. 

Who did not now weep tears of deepest sorrow ? Not 
only the gentler sex, but strong men unused to tears sobbed 
like heart-broken children. The day even seemed dismal — 
was dismal. The sun went back behind the clouds, and 
refused to look down upon the heart-rending scene. The 
breezes played a dirge-like requiem as they swept by. The 
horse seemed sad in the street. All nature looked sombre, 
for when Abraham Lincoln died earth was impoverished and 
heaven, we trust, enriched. 

We had had many dark days before during the rebellion ; 
days of gloom and heartfelt anxiety, but had never had a day 
like this. This was at once the saddest event of all our life. 
We had lost Presidents before — great, good men ; and their 
loss was keenly felt, but nothing like unto this had yet be- 



fallen us. The death of a true, good President at any time 
is a great calamity ; but at a juncture of national affairs like 
the present, it is peculiarly distressing. And then, worse 
than all, he was not smitten down hy disease. If he had 
sickened and died as other men die, we should still have bit- 
terly deplored his loss ; but that he should be murdered in 
cold blood by the hand of a foul, black-hearted wretch in 
human shape, stealing behind his back when he could offer 
no resistance and make no defense, causes both our grief and 
indignation to know neither measure nor bound. 

Go with me now to another part of the City of Washing- 
ton. At ten o'clock at night a rider dismounts from his 
horse in front of a dwelling. He rings the door-bell, and 
desires to see the head of the house, who is sick upon his 
couch, telling the servant that he had a prescription from the 
physician for his patient, and must see him in person. He is 
refused, and then rushes rudely by. In the hall he is met 
by the son of the sick man, whom he at once fells senseless 
upon the floor. He then bursts in the room, uses his dagger 
on the three male attendants of the invalid, including another 
son, and when they are overpowered, springs to the sick 
couch, and then plants his glittering steel in the throat and 
sinks it in the bosom of William H. Seward, Secretary of 
State. He then rushes to the door, mounts his horse, and is 
off, having, as he thought, fully completed his work of blood 
and death. 

The attack on the sick and helpless Piemier was, if possi- 
ble, more brutal and fiendish than that of the murder of the 
President. Ah, none but a devil in human shape could do a 
deed like that. And I affirm here to-day with calmness and 
deliberation, that it is my honest conviction that there is not 
a devil in all the extended caverns of Hell, that has a natiu'e 
more polluted, and a heart more black and loathesome than 
those of the fiends who committed these great crimes against 
God, America, and the World. 

But however much we may descant upon this topic, the die 
is cast and the deed done ; and to-day President Lincoln is 
rmmbered with the dead. And yet I cannot refrain from say- 
ing in this connection that it is a most strange providence 
that permitted this d(^ed. We know not why it is. We only 
know that God suffered it, and we bow humbly before Him. 



8 

Well therefore may the nation mourn its honored and 
trusted head. The more the people saw of Abraham Lincoln, 
the more they loved him. 

It may be remembered that your pastor in his discourse 
on last Thanksgiving day, made the observation and ventured 
the prediction that the American people, at least very many 
of them, did not appreciate Mr. Lincoln as he deserved, but 
that the day would como when they would do it. That day 
has come, and our prophecy stands. Friend and opponent 
vie with each other in their praises. The choice treasure is 
gone, the golden bowl broken, and now very many of us only 
begin to feel our loss. 

You have good reasons for knowing that your speaker, 
from the beginning, has entertained a most exalted opinion of 
the virtues and talents of Mr. Lincoln, which eminently fitted 
him for the responsibilities of his high position. And it 
often puzzled us to know why so many good men even 
thought so harshly and spoke so ungenerously of him. But 
our eyes have all been opened, and many of us see to-day as 
we did not two years ago. We accept, with great pleasure, 
the praises of his former political opponents, as being his just 
due — a spontaneous and grateful tribute to genuine worth 
and exalted statesmanship ; but you will, I trust, meanwhile 
allow us, who have loved and sustained him from the first, to 
feel a deeper thrill of pleasure at the remembrance of his vir- 
trues and his fitness for the ofiice to which the people had 
twice called him. 

There are men — I will not say in this village — who for 
four years have not only opposed Mr. Lincoln politically — 
this is not wrong when it is done in a becoming manner, for 
there ought to be two political parties — but have branded 
him as a liar, a thief, a villain, a murderer, and a tyrant; 
and who were not known to have changed their views up to 
the day of his death ; and yet I have been told that those 
very men vie with the most enthusiastic admirers of the la- 
mented President in the extensiveness of the drapery upon 
their dwellings. How is this ? I cannot understand it. 
What philosopher can make it plain ? What sage can solve 
the problem ? 

Did your speaker drape his dwelling when Beall, the rebel 
spy and highwayman, was executed in New York Harbor a 



short time since ? And would you wecar the badge of mourn 
ing at the conviction and execution of a murderer ^^ You 
would rather rejoice that the earth was rid of another vile 
wretch. 

Consistency is very essential, and those who are consistent 
in this tiling are known, and those who are not are also 
known. But if these displays are real evidences of genuine 
repentance even at the twelfth hour, we accept them most 
cheerfully ; but if they be the work of hypocrisy, may God 
have mercy on their authors. 

With but few exceptions then, and I make the announce- 
ment with great pleasure, the sorrow and grief of the people 
are deep and universal. Such a spectacle of deep affection at 
the loss of a chieftain, if I have read history correctly, the 
world has not before seen ; for the circumstances connected 
with this whole matter are of a very peculiar character. In 
this sweei)ing statement I do not even except the case of 
William, Prince of Orange, who was shot on the steps of his 
own palace ; nor that of Henry IV, King of France, who was 
stabbed in his carriage in the crowded streets of Paris. 

To-day twenty millions of freemen, men, women and chil- 
dren are bathed in tears. Sorrow, like a vast dismal pall, 
settles down upon the land. Why is it ? A great and good 
man has fallen ; and has fallen as a martyr. Did he de- 
serve such a fate ? Not a nobler, tenderer-hearted, purer- 
minded man walks God's earth to-day. 

But why do we feel so intensely ? Because it was not 
only the murder of a man, but of the President of the United 
States of America, than which no higher or nobler office ex- 
ists in the world. But was he a Tyrant ? Shame on the 
vile wetch who, after he had done his fatal work, shouted. 
Sic Semper Tyrannis ; and then added ''The South is 
avenged:' Ah ! this last expression is the key that unlocks 
the mystery. The South hilled him ! Slavery killed him I 
Rebellion lulled him I 

It is not enough to affirm that the leaders of the Rebellion 
were not cognizant of this foul plot. They may and they 
may not have been. But I tell you here to-day that the 
spirit that assassinated Sumner in the Senate ; that brand- 
ished its pistols, swords and bowie-knives for years ; that sent 
the first shot whirling against the ramparts of Sumter ; that 



10 

buried our fallen heroes faces downward at the battle of Bull 
Run ; that took their sacred skulls and used them for drink- 
ing cups ; that murdered the defenceless inhabitants of 
Lawrence, and then burnt the town ; that butchered our col- 
ored soldiers at Fort Pillow so unmercifully ; that sent those 
fiendish raids upon our Northern and Eastern frontier to rob 
and murder the inhabitants and burn their towns ; that took 
our brothers captured in battle and put them in the slave- 
pens of the South with nothing to shelter them from the 
storms of Winter or the heat of Summer ; that robbed them 
of their clothing and left them naked to die ; that systemati- 
cally and persistently starved them so that they either died 
or were terribly emaciated when it was proved beyond all 
doubt that there was plenty for them to eat ; the same spirit 
that did all these things is the self-same spirit that murdered 
our President, cut the throat of his Premier, and sought to 
kill the Vice-President and every member of the Cabinet^ 
together with our leading Generals. It is the final culmina- 
tion of Slavery and of Southern Chivalry. 

And yet Jefferson Davis, who positively sanctioned nearly 
if not all of the former acts of atrocity we have specified, if 
not the last great one also, stands up and asks Heaven to. 
witness the purity of his heart, the justice of his cause, and 
the sincerity of his purposes. What a wonder that God did 
not send a bolt of Divine vengeance from the skies, and smite 
the wretch dead upon the spot. If the Devil don't get him 
at last, pray tell me what is the use of having a Devil. I 
only hope and pray that he may come under our authority 
first before his master gets him. And yet there are hundreds 
in the South to-day just as bad and God-forsaken as he. 
And in speaking of these very leaders, how frequently we call 
them our erring brethren ! My God ! deliver us from such 
scorpions ! I tell you that it is a most merciful Providence 
that has delivered us from the rule of such men. See, see^ 
what fiends Slavery and Rebellion have made them ! Talk 
no more to me of the scenes of the darker ages. 

And now, what had Abraham Lincoln done to deserve 
death at the hand of a Southern assassin ? He simply re- 
garded his oath of office, maintained the constitution, and 
vindicated the laws. He undertook to destroy Rebellion, and 
in doing that saw that its cause was Slavery. After rei)eatedi 



11 

and unsuccessful attempts to destroy the Eebellion without 
touching its cause, he aimed a heavy blow at the monster, 
and the whole thing began to totter. In doing this dead, he 
at once lifted himself high among the great Philosophers, 
Sages and Philanthropists of the world. 

Abraham Lincoln was a wise man in the true sense of that 
word. He saw where the difficulty was, struck the blow just 
in the right place and at the right time ; and at once disin- 
tegration began to follow in all the South. Divine wisdom 
and foresight methinks, must have directed him to take that 
step The rebellion then began to die, grew weaker and 
weaker every day and every moment, and as it was just draw- 
ing its last gasp, it summoned its remaining energies as dying 
men often do in the agonies of dissolution, and aimed a 
deadly blow at him who had struck down Slavery and Ee- 
bellion. He fell a martyr ; and the blood of martyrs shall be 
the seed of a mighty and free Republic. Let his name stand 
upon the brightest page of history where shine the names of 
the world's great martyrs who have lived and died for God 
and humanity. 

And just here allow me again to revert to the kindness of 
Mr. Lincoln's heart, and the forbearance of his nature. For 
four long years he bore with our enemies, until many of us 
thought that forbearance and tenderness were his only faults. 
He talked to them as a father, and besought them to return 
home : and when they killed him, they killed their best and 
truest friend. He had nothing of animosity toward them in 
his heart when he died. His last words were words of kind- 
ness ; his last thoughts those of love. How could they hill 
him ? 0, how could they do it ? Before he died he doubt- 
less felt for them somewhat as our Lord Jesus Christ felt for 
his murderers more than eighteen hundred years ago ; and 
could he have spoken before he passed away, it is not mock- 
ery for us to believe that he would liave also said, " Father, 
forgive them, they know not what they do!" 

Mr. Lincoln was not only an honest man, but we have good 
reasons for believing he was also a christian man. His great 
wisdom has seemed most marvelous : perhaps the secret was, 
he sought and obtained Divine guidance. We have heard 
with great pleasure, from a most trustworthy source, that he 
accustomed himself to spend an hour every morning, before 
beginning the duties of the day, in acts of religious devotion. 



12 

He was a man of prayer ; and if we have ever had a Presi- 
dent since the days of Washington who felt his dependence 
upon God, that man was Abraham Lincohi. All his mes- 
sages prove this. No State papers that have ever emanated 
from the Executive mansion, if we except perhaps those of 
Washington, have so fully and uniformly recognized God and 
Divine Providence in the affairs of men as his. A deep and 
high-toned religious sentiment pervaded all his important 
official utterances. A good, sound Christian theology per- 
meated his entire being, and this evidently grew upon him? 
for his later documents were more evidently Christian in tone 
than his earlier ones. His late inaugural for example was 
the embodiment not only of sound logic, but of a true 
divinity. Mr. Lincoln certainly showed increasing evidences 
of personal religion. And for all these things we are truly 
thankful to God. 

His ability as a statesman is recognized by all. Even the 
UDfriendly portion of the English press has recently been 
forced to acknowledge this fact. But we will not detain you 
at this time upon the matter of his statesmanship, for this 
alone were the labor of an hour. But I would have all men 
see a close connection between his personal piety and liis suc- 
cess as a statesman. The one is very largely the basis of the 
other. Would that all statesmen would heed this lesson and 
reduce it to a personal practical test. 

Now, it would be useless for me to undertake to disguise 
the fact that the feeling in respect to this event is deep and 
wide-spread. It could not be otherwise. There is not only 
great grief but great indignation on the part of the people. 
This nation has been moved as it had never been moved 
before. The shock was terrific, causing the whole land to 
vibrate from centre to circumference. But what is the re- 
sult ? Is there riot and bloodshed in all the land ? Did it 
produce a counter revolution ? No ! Let the world look on 
and see whether we have borne this wonderful trial manfully 
or not. It has produced no revolution. Only here and there 
have there been cases of personal violence, and those seemed 
to be cases of righteous retribution. The people of the North 
are a peace-loving and law-abiding people. Our conduct in 
this great ordeal will produce weighty conviction in the 
States beyond the seas. We are profoundly grateful to God 



13 

tbat we have been able thus to conduct ourselves. Now, I 
gather from all this a mighty argument in vindication of the 
stability of our form of Government. The Monarchies of 
Europe seemed to suppose that our theory of government was 
false, and that we were building upon an insecure basis. 
They have hoped and expected to see us broken up. Why 
they thus hoped, we are not now discussing, but simply deal- 
ing with the fact. And therefore, with great unanimity, they 
predicted that we could not survive the shock of our great 
civil war. It is true our vessel was strained from keel to 
mast-head ; but the storm is past, and we are entering the 
harbor. It was a great marvel to Europe that we could have 
a peaceable Presidential election in the midst of our great 
civil strife. 

Mr. Lincoln forcibly put this very point in his address im- 
mediately after the results of the last election were made 
known when he said that the world had not before supposed 
that this was possible. The result astonished the old world : 
but it will be infinitely more marvelous whsn they learn how 
we have sustained this mighty shock. And now I ask you to 
behold the tremendous fact that the wheels of government 
were not blocked for a single moment. 

In four hours after Abraham Lincoln died, Andrew John- 
son of Tennessee, was inaugurated President of the United 
States of America. His first act was to appoint an acting 
Secretary of State, which he at once did, and all things were 
in motion. 

And it is also astonishing to see how quickly the peoi3le 
transferred their confidence from him they loved and trusted 
so well to his successor in office. 

We challenge the world to produce so grand a spectacle as 
this. Let Europe talk no more about our rope of sand, and 
the certain failure of a Republican form of Government. It 
is all a grand mistake. Our foundation is the solid rock. 
Our government rests upon the basis of Liberty, Justice and 
Humanity. God had something to do in founding this Re- 
public. He laid the corner-stone thereof ; and our glorious 
fabric will continue to stand and tower, the admiration of the 
whole world. It will loom up as a grand monument at once 
reflecting the glory of God and the wisdom of man. 

My brethren, this is no time for despondency. We have 



14 

too grand a past, and too bright a future. Our chief has 
fallen by the hand of an assassin it is true, but thank God 
the Government stands unshaken ; and I deliberately affirm 
here to-day, from the symptoms which I gather from the 
beating of the popular pulse, that it was never so strong be- 
fore as at this' very hour. The thing that I say is true. Our 
standard-bearer has fallen, pierced through the head, but 
another sprung forth in an instant and seized the colors, and 
is bearing them onward in triumph. The people have faith 
in Andrew Johnson, and they will hold up his hands, and 
God will lead us on if we trust in Him, in the path of 
national greatness and national glory. 

A few words respecting the plotters and leaders of the Re- 
bellion. What shall be done with them ? Let every one of 
them be put on trial for treason ; let them have an im- 
partial trial ; and if they be found guilty, unless there be 
some extenuating circumstances demanding executive clem- 
ency, let them be hanged by the neck until they are dead ; 
and may God have mercy on their souls. This is not the 
wild cry of vengeance. Far from it. All we ask is that 
mercy shall stand in her proper j)lace, and not undertake to 
usurp the functions of justice. In the Divine government 
justice is just as essential as mercy. Each has its sphere, and 
neither must encroach upon the other. Now if the Divine 
government rests upon such a basis, and cannot exist unless it 
does, certain it is that no human government can exist upon a 
basis other than this ; for, it is a primary principle laid down 
by Blackstone and all other eminent writers on legal science, 
that all human laws must rest upon the basis of the Divine 
laws. The conclusion then is clear and inevitable. There 
can be no order without law. Law must be respected and 
obeyed ; and when it is not respected and obeyed punishment 
must follow. And I ask in all seriousness, can men, in the 
administration of human Government, afford to be more gen- 
erous than God in the administration of Divine government ? 
We wait an answer. Does not God punish rebels against his 
government with a rigorous severity — yea, even eternal ban- 
ishment from his presence ? 

We repeat — we thirst not to-day for revenge, but only ask 
that Justice may exercise the functions which belong to her ; 
and unless I greatly mistake, she will find no impediment in 



15 

the person of Andrew Johnson, President of the United 
States of America. 

But our friend and father is no more. He is dead, but yet 
speaketh. He died at his post ; he fell with his armor on. 
We will thank God that his work was so completely and so 
well done. It would have been pleasant for him doubtless to 
have reaped the fruit of his labors, but God has otherwise 
ordered it. He tilled the soil, sowed the seed, and watched 
the result with prayer : another is permitted to reap the har- 
vest and bring in the sheaves. Good will assuredly come of 
this, for God makes even the wrath of man to praise him, and 
the remainder of wrath will he restrain. We bow before the 
rod that correcteth us. We richly deserve it all. 

We are smitten and afflicted, but not destroyed. We are 
bowed down with grief, but in the name of God we will rise 
again with augmented strength to measure swords with the 
enemies of our country. Henceforth let the world know that 
we have branded treason as the highest crime, and that he 
that commits it must die. 

Amongst all the various classes who mourn the death of our 
President, those, perhaps, who are colored most deeply feel 
their loss. In him were centered their hopes ; his name was 
linked with their liberty and well-being. /"May his mantle fall 
upon his successor ! As his tall and manly form lay in state 
at the White House, perhaps the most affecting scene was 
this : A colored woman lifted her little girl above the heads 
of the surging crowd, and [slowly made her way toward the 
spot where the chieftain lay, and when spoken to by one in 
regard to it exclaimed, with eyes suffused with tears, '■'■ I want 
to shoiv her the man that made her free." Grand sweert 
wonh. What a precious legacy for the widow and children 
of the martyred hero ! 

We also thank God that he went down to an honored grave. 
A monument of art will be reared over his tomb ; but he him- 
self has made one grander, prouder, more enduring ; one that 
Time cannot efface. He has enshrined himself in the hearts 
and affections of the people ; and there he will live fresh and 
green. We will speak his name and chant his praise to our 
children, and they to their children ; and with the name of 
Washington, it will be handed from fotlier to son, even down 
to far-off generations. And henceforth the ages will point to 



16 

Mount Vernon and to Springfield. In the one tomb rests 
the father, and in the other the saviour of his country. 
Sleep, chieftains, sleep I 

The character of Abraham Lincoln, in all its fine propor- 
tions and colossal greatness, is not fully seen to-day. As 
time rolls onward, it will be lifted higher and higher ; and 
like the grand old Alps, it will appear more majestic from 
afar. Distance will lend enchantment to the view. When 
we speak his name to our children yet unborn, they will sigh 
that they could not have lived in his day. 

On the morning of the assassination of the President a 
little boy was seen wiping something up with a piece of paper 
from the steps of the building where the deed was done ; and 
when asked what he was doing said, " Why, it's the blood of 
the Pi^esiclent-I am saving it!" Wise boy. That will in- 
deed be a relict worth having. And here we learn how price- 
less a thing Liberty is. What an almost infinite price has 
been paid to redeem it ! The precious blood of thousands 
upon thousands of our brothers had been given, but still she 
cried for more. And now the blood and very life of our Presi- 
dent has been laid upon her altar, 

0, Liberty, art thou satisfied now ? She cries enough. 
Then thou art ours, and we will highly prize thee. 

But our chieftain sleeps in death. He has gone, we trust, 
where no assassin can intrude, and no murderer lurk. Peace 
to his ashes. His work is done ; he rests from his labors. 
No more will he hear the beat of the drum, or the roar of the 
cannon. 'No longer will the strains of martial music stir his 
breast or fire his heart : but now we trust the melody of 
Heaven and the music of the harpers of the sky, fall with 
their sweet and undying cadences upon his gladdened ear and 
enraptured spirit, hard by the throne of God and the Lamb. 

0, ye angelic hosts, place upon the brow of the hero the 
Martyr's crown, and let it sparkle in the light of God's radi- 
ant Throne forever and forever ! 

Abraham Lincoln, Patriot, Sage, Philanthropist and 
Martyr! Eail and Farewell! 



A. 



' Af 



